The Railway Parents

When two suitcases were found after Angela's parents had died, they were found to be full of hundreds of love letters between the two, documenting their courtship years after the Second World War. Some refer to the story of their war years together as adolescents, meeting when Alan had been evacuated to Somerset where Ruth lived in the next village. The Great Western Railway is the backdrop to Alan and Ruth's love story unfolding as they yearned for a home after the austerity years of post war Britain in the 1940s. Also documented is Alan's apprenticeship as a young draughtsman with the GWR and his subsequent international professional career. Angela has edited the letters and added her own thoughts as she read through them during the global pandemic. She reminisces about what it was like to be a railway child, with her two elder brothers as Alan progressed with his railway career, from designing steam locomotives to senior management with British Rail and finishing as an international consultant working everywhere from Egypt to Panama.